Northern Ireland woman Donna shows off her skills on the hit Channel 4 show The Great Pottery Throw Down

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One of this year’s contestants, Donna, hails from Bangor, where she lives with her husband and three children.

Donna discovered her love of pottery when she was at school, going on to develop her skills at university with a degree in ceramics.

However, she left pottery behind when she decided to become an art teacher and only rekindled her love in 2022 after watching a series of The Great Pottery Throw Down.

"I started doing ceramics when I was 15, in school,” Donna explained. “My teacher was a ceramic artist and she introduced me to clay.

"I fell in love with it instantly. After school I did my foundation in Art and then a degree in Ceramics.

"After the degree, I started teaching and the clay was left behind. Between 2000, when I finished my degree, and 2022 when I watched Throw Down for the first time, I had not touched clay for 21 years.

"I binged watched all previous series of the Throw Down after which my husband and kids bought me a really cheap wheel for Mother’s Day 2022 and that's how I started again."

After deciding to enter the competition, stepping into the pottery for the first time was certainly a shock for the Northern Irish woman, who now uses her artistic skills in the world of cake making.

"I felt both excited and very nervous,” Donna said.

“It was quite overwhelming being on the set, with all the cameras, crew and other potters.

"I felt a bit like a deer in headlights and was worried that it was never going to feel natural to work in that environment or to appear myself in front of the cameras.

"The set was exactly as I expected, although much bigger than I thought it would be.

"It was very surreal being in the room. I felt like I was in a virtual reality version of it.

"When the judges walked in I felt as though I was inside my TV watching the show. It just didn’t feel real at all.

“Being in Gladstone Pottery Museum was such a pleasure and a privilege.

"My favourite area by far was the little alley just between the colour room and the bottle kiln - it was like taking a step back in time to the Victorian era.

"The sunrise and sunsets over the bottle kilns were spectacular and I don’t think I would ever tire of watching them.

"It was a really special place and I don’t think I would have enjoyed the experience as much if we had been in a modern studio.

“Being at Gladstone gave the whole experience a sense of occasion. I really, really loved it there.”

Donna was also thrilled to meet the judges Keith and Rich, as well as presenter Siobhán.

“Rich and Keith are very experienced and their feedback was of equal importance to me,” she continued,

"Art and craft is so subjective and so sometimes they saw different things that they liked in my work.

"They were both incredibly kind and I wanted to impress them both.

"Siobhán was great to be around. She was just the comic relief that I needed when I was getting a bit in my own head.

"Not only was she hilarious but she was also very kind off screen.”

And although the potters were all in competition with each other, they formed a close bond and were a great support in times of triumph and defeat.

"I loved being around all of the other potters,” Donna continued.

"I felt really fortunate to be on the show with the group of potters in Series 7 - we had so much fun together.

"I know that some of the potters had tried to get on in previous years and I was so happy that they were successful this year, so I had the chance to get to know them.

"We helped each other with problem solving and were a shoulder to stress on when something didn’t go as planned.”

Donna had to keep the fact that she was competing on the show a secret, even from members of her family, so it will have come as a great surprise to everyone that knows her when they tuned in to the first episode.

"It has been really hard keeping it a secret - it is by far the most exciting thing that I have done for myself in my adult life,” Donna admitted.

"Only a handful of people know that I have taken part and I want to keep it that way. I want to see their reactions when they find out I am on Throw Down.”

Donna certainly proved her talent on the first episode of the new series, during which the potters had to make a roast dinner set, as well as tackling the tricky throw down challenge by making identical plates.

Inspired by the plates her granny served champ on, Donna created a stunning roast dinner set with intricate red artwork, earning her the title of the first Potter of the Week.

Viewers will be excited to see how Donna progresses throughout the series and she will have plenty of support from her fans in Northern Ireland.

"I think everyone will be surprised to see me on television,” Donna added.

“Friends, family, past students, past colleagues, people in my local area. I don’t think anyone would expect me to put myself out there in this way.”

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*The Great Pottery Throw Down continues on Channel 4 on Sundays at 7.45pm.